Not Finnished

I came to discover and really appreciate Architecture in Helsinki with the release of their last album, Places Like These. A rollicking good ride full of giddy fun that makes you think you're back in high school on a summers day running amok and failing the education system. Songs like 'Hold Music' and 'Heart It Races' made it undoubtedly one of the better Australian albums of the year in 2007. Working at a certain mass retail media outlet helped my exposure to it, but it certainly made the working hours more enjoyable. I fell in love with a lot of albums at that place... but anyway, I digress.

It turns out, due to my unenlightened viewpoint and from doing some research, that Places Like These was actually quite a divisive album amongst pre-existing fans of the band. Does that mean I lack too much knowledge and perspective to continue? Probably, but its never stopped me before.

So the AIH (wow, thats easier) guys are back with the next step along in their musical path, Moment Bends, and its certainly an interesting effort. Whilst you may have had 'That Beep' drilled into your head given its early release last year, it's certainly not a track that sums the album up, good though it may be. The excessive percussion and spontaneous guitars have taken a back seat for a much warmer, rounded, and emphatically electronic sound. While I want to be excited about it, it doesnt seem to possess the carefree wonder that made the previous effort so enjoyable on a personal level. That being said its definitely growing on me. I suppose the best way to think about it is that if Places Like These reminds you of jumping around a jungle gym, acting like a Muppet and enjoying life, Moment Bends is equivalent to getting older, slightly more mature. You still enjoy the fun but you have to be all 'adult' and shit, and its time to start seducing and subsequent procreation. Enjoy this, the new clip for the new single - Contact High

Watch out at 1:20, I shat.

Anyway AIH are touring at the moment in Aus, before heading to the USA and the rest of the world after that. I recommend going to see them, but if you get to before I do - let me know how the new stuff translates. I think mixed together with previous material it will create a nice contrast in the construct of a live set. And I'm (normally) right about these kind of things.